Law review article that explores a legal framework within which to ground a support model of legal capacity and fully replace substituted decision making.
Visit resource: The Support Model of Legal Capacity: Fact, Fiction, or Fantasy?
SDM Resource Library
Tag: Format
Matter of Dameris L. (January 2012)
Case removing guardianship in favor of supported decision-making model.
“Based on all the evidence in this case, Dameris has demonstrated that she is able to exercise her legal capacity, to make and act on her own decisions, with the assistance of a support network which has come together for her since she first appeared in this court. Terminating the letters of guardianship previously granted to Cruz and Alberto recognizes them, instead, as persons assisting and supporting her autonomy, not superseding it. Terminating the guardianship recognizes and affirms Dameris’s constitutional rights and human rights”
In re Guardianship of Dameris L., 38 Misc. 3d 570 (N.Y. Sur. Ct. 2012).
Implementing Legal Capacity Under Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: The Difficult Road From Guardianship to Supported Decision-Making
This law review article by Professor Robert D. Dinerstein discusses how supported decision-making will be defined and implemented in light of the language of Article 12 of the United Nations United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It also provides an overview of guardianship and its alternatives.
Restoration of Rights in Adult Guardianship Research & Recommendations
Report from the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging (ABA Commission) on restoration of rights in guardianship. Report includes legal and empirical research involving collecting the first multi-state data on restoration.
Visit resource: Restoration of Rights in Adult Guardianship Research & Recommendations
Supported Decision-Making: Lessons from Pilot Projects
This law review article – 72 Syracuse L. Rev. 99 (2022) – explains how SDM has transformed the lives of many individuals with disabilities who participated in SDM pilot programs, including those led by CPR in Massachusetts and Georgia, and outlines the key principles necessary for successful replication. It was drafted to inform the deliberations at the Fourth National Guardianship Conference, which resulted in key recommendations for promoting SDM.
Visit resource: Supported Decision-Making: Lessons from Pilot Projects
Supported Decision-Making: Potential and Challenges for Older Persons
This law review article – 72 Syracuse L. Rev. 165 (2022) – describes how SDM can be used to help older adults retain or regain their legal decision-making rights, and it includes recommendations for how to make SDM more accessible to that population. It was drafted to inform the deliberations at the Fourth National Guardianship Conference, which resulted in key recommendations for promoting SDM.
Visit resource: Supported Decision-Making: Potential and Challenges for Older Persons
Fourth National Guardianship Summit Recommendations: Maximizing Autonomy & Ensuring Accountability
This law review article – 72 Syracuse L. Rev. 29 (2022) – contains the recommendations for reform that were adopted by delegates — including judges, attorneys, legal scholars, self-advocates, and family members, among others — the Fourth National Guardianship Summit convened in May 2021. Recommendations 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.3, 3.4, and 5.2 are designed to advance the recognition of, access to, and use of SDM.
Facebook Live – Introduction to Supported Decision-Making for Haitian Creole Community
This video captures a conversation about Supported Decision-Making between an attorney from the Center for Public Representation and community leaders from the Black Autism Coalition and Autism 509. This conversation was held through a Facebook Live session in March 2024. It is in both English and Haitian Creole.
Event was part of a training initiative, “Supported Decision-Making: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion,” funded in part through a grant from the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living, Federal Award No. 93.630.
PowerPoint – “What Happens at 18?: Supports for Decisions in Adulthood”
The Center for Public Representation wants families and people with disabilities in Massachusetts to know about their options for decision-making support in adulthood, so they can find the right fit for them. We partnered on a training initiative with the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association in Lowell, Massachusetts. This is the English version of the PowerPoint we used. The Khmer version is available here.
Visit resource: PowerPoint – “What Happens at 18?: Supports for Decisions in Adulthood”
